


A Letter Was Found

by RamblesandDragons



Series: Gravity Falls One-Shots [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Attempted Murder, Bill Ciper (Mentioned), Demonic Possession, I know Ford had to see that letter in Journal 3, Implied/Referenced Torture, Journal 3 (Gravity Falls), Let me know if i miss a tag, Still on a Gravity Falls kick, getting back into the swing of writing, has this been done before? probably.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:25:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21966352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RamblesandDragons/pseuds/RamblesandDragons
Summary: In Journal 3 there is a letter from the Sock Opera incident from Bill. This is my take on if Ford found it and connected the dots.
Relationships: Dipper Pines & Ford Pines
Series: Gravity Falls One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1581268
Comments: 6
Kudos: 121





	A Letter Was Found

Ford wasn’t looking forward to this. He stood at the door of the attic with a notepad in hand. It had taken a few weeks to get to all the contributions to his journal that Dipper and Mabel had added. While it had been a source of annoyance at first, he found that their thoughts were welcomed additions to the information he had gathered. He had looked on in pride and maybe a little bit of worry with the trouble they had found themselves into and out of. It had been an hour ago that he had reached the most concerning entry in their misadventures. He had to know the truth and he prayed to whatever benevolence forces that might be out there in the multiverse that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Finding his resolve, he knocked at the door. 

“Hello?” Dipper’s voice rang out from the other side. 

“Dipper it’s me. Can I come in a moment?” 

“Oh-oh yeah just...one second.” Ford heard the boy jump off his bed and scurry around a bit. Probably an attempt to clean a little first before Ford came in. In truth he didn’t care as his own work space was often a mess, but it did warm his heart that Dipper cared so about his opinion of him. It was the same warmth he got when Mable started to tell him stories while knitting. It was at this moment Ford realized how much these two had wormed their way into his heart which, if Ford was being honest with himself, he thought had walled itself up a long time ago. This was going to be so much harder than Ford thought. 

After a minute Dipper opened the door. It was just him since Mabel was over at a friend’s place which might make this a bit easier. He would have to get her account of the events but that could happen at a different time. Dipper let Ford in and after a moment found himself sitting a little oddly in Mabel’s bed. Ford wryly thought that he would probably be cleaning glitter off of his coat for a week afterwards but he wanted to be eye level with the boy. He motioned for Dipper to sit and took a deep breath. 

“Dipper, you mentioned at one point that you know of Bill and had interacted with him in some way. That’s why I wanted to try and shield you from his influence.” 

Dipper grimaced. “I’m sorry about freaking out Grunkle Ford! It was just...I couldn’t see your eyes and there was so much Bill stuff and...” 

“Easy my boy, I’m not mad at you. Like I said I’m proud of you. If I was Bill, well there you were willing to fight me off. You’re observant and not easily tricked.” Ford had hoped the words of encouragement would help the boy calm down but a shameful look crossed his face. 

“I was tricked though. Earlier in the Summer.” 

“Yes, that’s why I’m here. I need to get an account of what happened to you. Learning from past experiences is how we grow after all!” 

Dipper sat for a moment chewing at his lip while Ford got out his pen. 

_Just stay upbeat and don’t fret and this should be easy enough. You’re just worrying too much._

“Go on.” After a moment of Dipper still hesitating Ford did his best to soften his voice. “Remember I let the demon into my head. Nothing you say can beat that I promise you.” 

That seemed to be enough encouragement. Dipper started the tale by recounting going into the old bunker. Ford had been taking notes and not until the word ‘Bunker’ and been scrawled down did it register what had been said. 

“YOU WENT DOWN _THERE_?” Ford yelled then immediately regretted as the boy winced. “You could have gotten hurt what on earth would compel you?” 

“We were looking for answers about you.” Dipper said quietly. 

“Oh.” The guilt burned in Ford’s chest. He stuffed it back down hard as he reminded himself that Dipper was just fine. 

“Oh yeah ummm if you go down there the Shapeshifter is frozen in a tube and it looks like me but it’s not me. Just so you don’t freak out.” Dipper laughed sheepishly. Ford was frozen in terror. 

_The shapeshifter got out? God did it try and hurt the kids? What if one of them is him? No they would have killed me already be reasonable. That must have been a horrific experience. He was just looking for me! This is all my doing._

_Wait no... if Stan had been honest then this wouldn’t have happened. If Stan had kept a better eye out on them my God who put him in charge of kids. I need to talk to_ _Shermie_ _about what a horrible..._

“Great Uncle Ford? Hello?” Dipper hesitantly waved a hand in front of Ford’s face. He hadn’t realized he had gone quiet for so long. 

“Um yes sorry. Obviously, you should stay away from there from now on. But please continue.” And Dipper did. He got to the day of the incident. Something about a puppet show had Mabel’s interests and a lack of sleep on his part while fussing with an old laptop. 

“I think I fell asleep and Bill used the Mindscape to convince me that I had tried too many passwords and I was about to lose all of the information. So, he appeared and offered me a deal. A puppet for the password. I thought he meant one of Mabel’s sock puppets but he took my body instead.” 

“That’s what I feared. This...wasn’t a permanent deal like the one we had so no worries about that.” Ford kept his voice light but the letter in the back of his pocket burned. Bill had never meant to make it a permanent deal. 

Dipper’s story continued. Every mention of every harm done to Dipper’s body reminded Ford of the hell on earth Bill had put his own body through. Ford had even noticed that the stairs were still broken from all those years ago. As he took notes on the damage, he felt a long dormant anger rise up in him making his very bones ache. His hatred of Bill had always kept him going but it had been put on a simmer. A necessity in having to focus on his task and survival. This new information, this attack on his nephew, brought the long-controlled flames back to the forefront. He jabbed his pen into the note pad he had brought up instead of his journal, a feeble attempt not too get Dipper too excited. Bill’s death at his hands was going to be a pleasure and he wished for a moment he could extend the pleasure to Dipper. 

Dipper’s explanation of Mabel’s clever solution brought Ford back into the moment. “Thank you, Dipper. I’m sure recounting that wasn’t a pleasurable experience. You won’t have to worry about him anymore thought I working to make sure of that.” 

Ford stood to leave to give the boy some space when Dipper hopped off the bed. “Grunkle Ford, was he that sadistic to you?” 

Ford turned to look at the boy, at his nephew. His clever nephew who had found his journal and started to make his own notes, who had embraced and loved the weirdness of Gravity Falls like he had. A soft smile spread across his face. “That was in the past. I’m fine just like you will be fine.” 

The worry lines around Dipper’s eyes didn’t disappear but he smiled a bit all the same. Ford patted him on the head and walked towards the door his smile falling when Dipper could no longer see. He had the confirmation that Bill had taken control of Dipper. The letter was accurate. Ford wasn’t a religious person but he could only hope that Bill would burn in some sort of hell if Ford ever did get the chance to shoot him. 

As these thoughts swirled in his head as he promptly crashed into Stan outside of the twin’s door. Despite his age and lack of exercise Stan still had a very sturdy body and Ford found himself on the ground. 

“Oi, watch where you’re going Poindexter.” Stan snarked as he picked up their dad’s old fez and, after a second, offered a hand for Ford to use to get up. He huffed and got himself up. Stan hastily put the hand into his pocket. 

“I was uh looking for Dipper. I’ll just...” He didn’t finish his sentence as he moved out of the way for Ford to get through. Without a word Ford swept by. He paused a moment to midway down where he considered telling Stan about what Bill had done. 

_Might finally make him realize what he’s risked._

_No. He’s many things but even a fool can tell how much he loves those kids. Don’t need to worry him._

Ford would still argue that Stan was a bad guardian but he couldn’t fault him for loving those kids. Ford could at least understand that. 

Stan paused a moment outside of the door and let himself be dejected just a moment. He leaned against the wall processing what he just heard. He hadn’t meant to snoop but he was looking for Dipper and that story was something. Well it was hard to believe but so was half the stuff in the crazy town and yet it was real. 

Bill. He had heard the name in passing but no one had bothered to explain anything to him. What he knew about Bill was from the Journals and that third one got the message across pretty clear that he wasn’t a someone to mess with. Stan was about to walk into the room with Dipper, deciding that maybe tonight he would try to get his brother to at least tell him a little more, when he noticed a piece of paper on the floor. He picked it up and read it. He then read it again, a vile sickness welling up inside of him and puzzle pieces clicked in his head. He crumpled the letter in his fists and shook with rage. That bastard had hurt his family, had planned on killing his nephew from the sound of it. 

When Stan got his hands on him, he was going to make Bill pay.

**Author's Note:**

> Why I get WHY they didn't go into Bill was going to maybe kill Dipper in the show it still drives me crazy that Ford didn't in the Journal. He's a smart enough guy to realize what happened. Also adding a little fuel on the Stan going to punch Bill into oblivion fire. As always I am terrible at editing my own work.
> 
> EDIT: Took out a small line that made no sense with the order of how things worked out. Dipper showed the Journal to Stan BEFORE Sock Opera. Thanks to JCHFanficReader55 for pointing it out.


End file.
